August 10 - Wood Group appointed GAC Taiwan to handle the transport of 800 tonnes of turbine and generator parts nearly 500 km across Taiwan from Bade City to Kaoshiung port.

It took a fleet of forklifts and cranes, 47 trailers, 16 trucks, and many hours of precision planning to complete the project and deliver the cargo to the port.

Some of the machinery and parts were stored in a small warehouse in Bade City, so cranes and forklifts had to be used to move the equipment into the open for loading into 16 containers. Another 83 oversized pieces, including three 60 tonne turbines, also had to be loaded onto low-chassis trailers before starting the road trip to the port.

Kenny So, GAC Taiwan's managing director, says the project team faced several challenges to complete the job.

The team had to negotiate with the local government and a pipeline contractor who was working on a water-pipe project near the warehouse, to arrange for them to halt work for a day to enable the team to enter the warehouse and load the cargo.

To comply with the weight and height regulations for highways, the trailers had to avoid the main highway, travel at low speed on country roads, and only travel after 20:00 every night.

The Taiwan rainy season brought further challenges and delays, including the possibility of a typhoon. To avoid that risk, the team rescheduled the delivery to an earlier date and arranged for additional waterproofing material to protect the freight from lashing rains during transit.

"GAC Taiwan has been handling specialised transport of heavy, wide and oversized cargo for many years, and this has given our team the solid knowledge and experience that it takes to take care of even the most challenging and unique of project cargoes," Kenny adds.

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